1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink set and a recording method using the ink set.
2. Related Art
An ink jet recording method is a technique for printing performed by ejecting small droplets of an ink and thus depositing the droplets on a recording medium, such as a paper sheet. The ink used in the ink jet recording method is typically prepared by dissolving a water-soluble dye in water or a mixture of water and a water-soluble organic solvent.
JP-A-8-157761 discloses an aqueous ink to substantially solve the problem of color bleeding in recording on plain paper. The ink contains a black dye, diethylene glycol, isopropyl alcohol, octane, a surfactant, nitrocellulose, and water (see Paragraph 0009 and Example 1 of Paragraph 0048 in the cited document).
However, images formed with such an ink containing a water-soluble dye are inferior in water fastness and light fastness. In addition, when used for recording on a low-absorbent recording medium, such an ink disadvantageously causes abnormal bleeding. Furthermore, the above-cited JP-A-8-157761 merely describes a technique for recording on plain paper with a single ink, but not with an ink set, that is, a combination of a plurality of inks. An ink set is desired which does not cause bleeding in recording on a low-absorbent recording medium.